Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Missouri

My wife backed into someone in a parking lot. Very minimal damage and insurance info was not exchanged, damage was estimated at $300. We offered to pay the $300 and the person refused. 10 days later recieved a call from a police officer friend of the person who was backed into. Demanding us to provide him with our insurance info because the person wants more $$$. Can the police do anything to us about this? I don't want to give my insurance info because of such a small claim, if we have one more claim this year we will get cancelled.


Asked on 12/05/12, 10:00 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Anthony Smith LawSmith

Obviously, you know that your wife is required to prove she is insured when she is in an accident. But, an officer is not to act as a private debt collector. You may yet be able to deal with the collision without an instance claim. Make arrangements to get estimate for the repair of the other drivers car.

Good luck

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Answered on 12/06/12, 3:21 am
Michael R. Nack Michael R. Nack, Attorney at Law

To answer you question, yes, it is possible that the other driver will make a complaint to the police in the jurisdiction where the collision occured, and the prosecutor in that jurisdiction could bring charges against your wife such as "leaving the scene of an accident", "driving without insurance", "reckless driving", and so forth. Then your wife would need to hire a defense attorney to represnt her on those charges. The above answer is correct in that police are not supposed to use their supposed authority to lean on people for their friends, but what happened to you is a very common example of police abusing their position and exceeding their authority. On the civil side, an attorney might be able to persuade the other driver to settle the claim, but the legal fees may outweigh the benefit to you.

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Answered on 12/06/12, 7:31 pm


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